kids

We were standing in the driveway watching huge trucks dumping gravel on the street, maybe because of the loudness and the hugeness of the scene, the kids stuck together while they watched.
Usually moments like this don't last long enough for me to get the shot, but they were a bit entranced today.

Isabella's flower arrangement

Per Grammy's request.

Here is the bouquet Isabella picked and arranged at Grammy's on Mother's Day.

Kids in nature

We've been playing outside a lot these days and the kids are loving every minute of it.
These pictures were from a walk we went on last night.
I love pictures of the back of Alexander's head.

When Papa bends, so does Ari
yes, he has a huge scab on his chin, he was running to fast (in the house) and didn't stop in time to avoid the window frame. He's ok though, and just look at the colors in that picture.
Looking for bugs. Ari likes to let the ants crawl onto her hand and then watch them climb up her arm.
Arianna riding a bike like a big kid. She can't do it sitting down, but she gets on it and walks :)
one small crash, it's all worth it though.
this one's for Anna, to show evidence that one of my kids is a dog fan.

Turtle

Last week the kids were playing outside when we discovered this big ole snapping turtle in the front yard. It was fairly feisty after being lunged at by the silly dog for about 5 minutes, so Faron decided to relocate it to our pond.
The kids thought the action was great, however you will notice Isabella is not in that picture, that's because she was watching, yet keeping her distance. You never know when a turtle might turn on you.
He easily found his way into the water.
Then Joey swam around in the pond for a good 10 minutes trying to find him. Like that would have been a good idea!

Cousin Pictures

2 weeks ago we went up and visited our Hopper cousins so that we could try to get some good group pictures. I haven't posted them until now because we used them in Grandma's Mother's Day present, so I didn't want to post them here until she had gotten her present. But now that she has, here are some of my favorites from the day.

outside

The weather has been nice and we have spent most of the week outside. Faron set up the trampoline which the kids haven't seen since we moved in so they were all very excited. Arianna even got in on the action this year, but she doesn't like to be bounced around, so she has to be on alone, or with one other person who can keep from bouncing while she is on. She does love to run around on the trampoline though, and can actually get up there by herself, she climbs onto the upside down tub we use for a step and hauls herself onto the top. Handy for her, but you have to be quick enough to get her off before she gets inside the net, cause once she's in there, she's not likely to come out of her own free will.

Alexander is a flailing Muppet on solid ground, so on a trampoline, watch out.